Recap: 'True Blood' Season 2 finale

Last night in a fantastical flurry of blood, lust and redemption, "True Blood" wrapped up its second season. Fans across the country watched wide-eyed in anticipation of Maryann's death. Some wished her demise had taken place earlier in the season, but many of us enjoyed it just the way it was. No matter which side of the fence you landed on, there was no question that the show ascended to new heights of uncharted, off-kilter weirdness.

The episode began with a black-eyed Lafayette cornering Sookie and making her strip and don a white "maid of honor" toga. When he forces her downstairs Sookie finds Maryann wearing Gran's wedding dress.  Maryann takes the opportunity to talk to Sookie alone, and asks her once again what she is. Sookie has no answer for her, nor can she conjure up her magical electricity-producing powers. No matter, Maryann rightly says that Sookie's presence is all she really needs to bring Sam to her.

'True Blood': Season 2 leaves fans thirsty for more

Just hours until tonight's "True Blood" finale. To celebrate -- or mourn -- Showtracker Jessica Gelt recaps the best of the season, from Jason and Sarah's rendezvous at Jesus Camp to Godric soothing Eric before his last dawn. 

Check it out, photo gallery-style, below:

Photo credit: HBO

Rutina Wesley hopes her 'True Blood' role is a stepping stone for other black actresses

HBO's "True Blood" has had more than its share of frightening moments this season, but the fan frenzy surrounding the cast of the vampire drama can also be a bit scary, as Rutina Wesley has discovered. 

For instance, there was the devotee at the cast's Comic-Con autograph session who wanted to "bite" Wesley, who plays the sharp-tongued bartender Tara Thornton, in the neck for a picture. Or the fan from Louisville, Ky., who almost collapsed into a quivering heap when she finally encountered Wesley at the San Diego event. 

Then there are all the "True Blood" fans who spot her in markets or on the street who call her Tara ("People think I'm her") and the Web message boards that she can't keep away from despite warnings: "My husband yells at me to stop reading them. It drives me crazy. People can be really mean -- they say the most vicious things." 

But despite those unsettling vibes from "True Blood" loyalists, the classically trained Wesley, who studied at Juilliard, is on "top of the world," simultaneously enjoying artistic satisfaction and popularity. 

As its second season comes to an end Sunday, "True Blood," with heavy doses of bloody violence and twisted sex accenting its tale of vampires living among humans in modern-day Louisiana, has become HBO's biggest hit since "The Sopranos." 

"I'm still wrapping my head around all of this," Wesley said recently, wolfing down a salad in a cafe near her mid-Wilshire area home where she lives with her husband, Jacob. A sleeveless blouse showed off her muscular, athletic arms that have become a trademark of Tara's strong-willed character. The long, swishy braids of her character were nowhere in evidence, replaced by a straighter hairstyle that lent an extra softness to her beauty.

Recap: 'True Blood' Season 2, Episode 11

I can't believe this is it, but we just watched the next-to-last episode of "True Blood" for this season. After last week's all-out mayhem, this week's adventures felt like a walk in the park.

Things kick off as Bill walks into Sophie-Anne's house -- also known as the Vampire Queen of Louisiana -- in search of advice on how to kill a maenad (i.e., Mary Ann). She's sucking blood from the inner thigh of a delicious-looking young woman.

Meanwhile a much less appealing kind of sucking is happening at Bill's mansion, where Jessica, driven to fang-fueled anger by Hoyt's mother's insulting behavior, is sucking on Hoyt's mom's neck. Hoyt angrily tears her away but not in time. His mom liked it. "Look what you've done," he accuses the poor little vampire as he storms off. She slams the door, screaming with heartbroken anguish.

Back at Sophie-Anne's place Sophie-Anne tells Bill that Mary Ann can't be killed because she has convinced herself of her own immortality. "Everything that exists willed itself into existence." (So can I will something into extinction? Like, say, those text messages from that one guy I don't like? You know who you are, or at least my friends know who you are.)

Darker things are being willed at Lafayette's house, where Tara has been handcuffed by Lafayette to keep her from going back to Sookie's house in search of Eggs. Lafayette holds a gun on her but gives it to her mother while he and Sookie take a break on the porch. Tara takes the opportunity to guilt trip her mother into letting her free. Lettie Mae turns the gun on Sookie and Lafayette while Tara jumps in the car. Lafayette, still suffering from post-traumatic stress, cowers in a corner of the porch, hallucinating that Lettie Mae is Eric. Sookie throws a door stop at Lettie Mae, and she and Lafayette run off to find Tara.

Things are a mess at Merlotte's, where Sam, Andy and Jason clean up and Jason talks about how he has to save his town. Sam catches a glimpse of Arlene's kids outside of the window. They are hungry and dirty. He feeds them while Jason and Andy go to raid the arsenal at the sheriff station. The children suggest that Sam ask a vampire for advice.

On the way to the sheriff's office Jason waxes philosophical about Sam's abilities (earlier Sam revealed to Jason and Andy that he is a shape shifter). "What if Sam turns into a dog and has sex with a lady dog?" Jason asks. Crazy townspeople dance and writhe all around the sheriff's office. One offers to go down on Jason while Bud dances around in his boxers shooting his guns in the air. Another (a deputy) shoots Andy in the chest but fortunately he is wearing a bulletproof jacket.

When Tara arrives at Sookie's house Eggs is sitting forlorn at the kitchen table with big black eyes. Mary Ann appears and tells Tara that it was Tara who summoned her in the first place -- during her exorcism in the woods. But that was a fake, Tara pleads. Again, Mary Ann says that belief is a powerful thing and that Tara believed enough to pique her interest in Bon Temps, which is why she came and why she found Tara in particular. She flutters, but it doesn't affect Tara, so she punches Tara in the face and Tara's eyes go black again.

As Eggs and Tara dance off to break glass and furniture and generally behave like a couple of drunk frat boys on spring break, the crazed townspeople arrive in the kitchen to tell Mary Ann that God appeared to them and "smote" Sam. He disappeared and all that was left of him was a pile of his clothes. Mary Ann knows that Sam simply shape-shifted and tricked them. She calls them fools and emits some kind of high-pitched shrieking noise (kind of like the one I make when my credit card gets rejected) and they run away.

When Hoyt gets back to his house with his irrational, newly sinful mother she gets busy making a potato chip-candy bar casserole with hot sauce for Mary Ann's coming-of-God party. She says horrible things to Hoyt and she reveals that although she told him that his father died protecting the family from a burglar, he actually killed himself. Hoyt is devastated.

Meanwhile, Lafayette and Sookie arrive at her house and watch from a distance as fat naked people dance around the totem pole in the yard. Sookie says that although she was almost raped in Dallas, watching this happen to Gran's house is so much worse. When Terry and Arlene show up and threaten them, Lafayette distracts them by throwing large quantities of pills at them. (That always works! Especially when you really need to skip the bathroom line at a Hollywood nightclub.)

Hoping to save his own life and the town, Sam goes to Fangtasia with Arlene's kids to ask help from Eric. Eric pays a lot of attention to the children, whom he affectionately (too affectionately, maybe) refers to as tiny humans before blasting off like Superman to visit Sophie-Anne.

Bill is still at Sophie-Anne's, trying to get her to give him secrets about the maenad. She is flip with him as they lounge in swimsuits under simulated sunlight by a pool. She has a line of half-naked men and women standing by the pool, waiting to serve as snacks. Bill says he feeds only on Sookie, but gives in and sucks the neck of a handsome young man, much to Sophie-Anne's delight. "I love watching two men," she says. Later, while they play Yahtzee, she finally gives him what he's looking for.

"Maenads keep waiting for gods to come, but they never do," she says. "She needs to think that she's successfully summoned Dionysus and that he will ravage her, devour her, literally. When she thinks she's found him she can be killed." Bingo! When Bill leaves he runs into Eric at the door and again tells him to stay away from Sookie, and if he doesn't he will tell the queen that Eric is forcing humans to sell vampire blood for him.

Back in town, Jason and Andy sit in a truck preparing for the all-out war that is about to take place. Andy tells Jason that he has always been resentful of how easy Jason has had it, especially with the ladies. Jason points out that everyone he loves has been killed and that when it comes to the ladies, "I work out like a mother... and I watch a lot of porn and learn stuff." That is hard work; you tell him, Jason! They decide to leave the past behind them and focus on the task ahead.

When Bill shows up in Bon Temps he goes to Merlotte's, but that's not where Sookie is. She's at her house navigating her way through a maniacal scene of gross decay and all-out fiendishness. The town drunk cuts off her own ring finger and giggles, a naked man bathes in the sink with what looks to be intestines, and one of the crazies forces Sookie to lay on the floor with him where she found her Gran murdered. When he tries to get her to have sex with him, she hits him over the head with a frying pan and flees upstairs.

There she finds Tara and Eggs breaking all of Gran's things and preparing a nest in the bed for a giant egg. Could it be the result of Tara and Eggs freakish tantric union on Tara's birthday? Is this the god that is to come? Sookie stands at the foot of the bed, shocked, until someone grabs her shoulders. She turns to see that it is Lafayette, his eyes as big and black as coal.

Roll credits.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Alexander Skarsgard as Eric. Credit: HBO

Live Chat: 'True Blood' Season 2, Episode 11

All hell broke loose in Bon Temps last Sunday. What with the whole town possessed by Mary Ann's demonic powers, eerie murmurings of the coming of a dark lord, Sookie suddenly displaying some sort of unknown fairy magic, Jason saving Sam's life by posing as God and Tara finally getting exorcised. Whew. All that in only 45 minutes. What could Alan Ball and company possibly have in store for us next?

You bring the speculation, I'll stir the sidecars.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Sam Trammell (Sam Merlotte), left, Chris Bauer (Andy Bellefleur). Credit: John P. Johnson / HBO

Recap: 'True Blood' Season 2, Episode 10

"True Blood" officially careened into batty territory Sunday night with the entire town of Bon Temps possessed by Mary Ann's black-eyed maenad magic. Also, the episode lasted only 45 minutes, leaving the impression that somehow the writers simply couldn't figure out how to proceed after the B-horror-film level of nuttiness they introduced into the plot. (I'm not saying this is a bad thing, necessarily; I love B horror films. "I, Madman," anyone?)

Barely a nod was given to Godric's self-immolation. Except for at the beginning of the episode when Eric is shown in his hotel room, topless and crying blood. Sookie comforts him and in the surefire way that television grief inevitably gives way to hot sympathy sex, they are making out with verve. But wait; sorry, ladies, it's a dream.

Sookie wakes up in a car with Bill (in his coffin) and Jason as they drive into Bon Temps. The town has gone mad. Most everybody is bloody and naked, and someone yells, "We have to find Sam, it's almost time." Time for Mary Ann to sacrifice him at a pagan stake she has built in Sookie's front yard with what looks like fathers and meat -- organs, kidneys, livers. (I swear I built something similar once, you know, just for kicks.)

Sam is holed up in Andy's scuzzy motel room, terrified. Andy, for some reason, has not been affected by Mary Ann's spell. They discuss why Mary Ann wants Sam, and Sam concludes that it's because she wants to "cut out my heart while a bunch of naked people watch." Yup, sounds about right. Then Arlene calls Sam crying from Merlotte's. "They've got Terry, and they're gonna come for me next," she moans, Sam says he'll be right there. No, Sam! It's a setup.

Meanwhile, Bill, Sookie and Jason arrive back at Bill's mansion to find Jessica and Hoyt trying to deal with Hoyt's mother, who has gone as black-eyed crazy as the rest of the town. She's screaming terrible things about Jessica and playing Bill's Wii like a frat boy on adderall.

Jason has seen enough. He says he's going to Merlotte's to see what's happening. "I'm not gonna sit back and watch monsters destroy my town; this is the war I've been training for," he says.

When Sam and Andy show up at Merlotte's it's dark, but Sam knows it's full of people. Sure enough a crew of crazies, led by Terry and Arlene, come out of the woodwork (angry villagers with cocaine and cleavers rather than pitchforks and torches) and surround him. Andy shoots his gun in the air, the townspeople become confused, and he and Sam barricade themselves inside the walk-in cooler. The loonies howl with dismay.

Back at Lafayette's he and Tara's mom have a black-eyed Tara chained to a chair; she spits venomously and head-butts her mom. "He's coming," she says. Who's he? The devil or Dionysus? I like to think that Dionysus is a little more fun-loving than this.

Soon Sookie and Bill arrive at Sookie's house to see that it is indeed prepared for a sacrifice, with candles everywhere and eerie music playing. Mary Ann appears and grabs Sookie, so Bill bites her. She is poison to him, he vomits green bile. Sookie pulls Bill away from Mary Ann and tells her to get away from him. She puts her hand up to Mary Ann's face and a white light emerges out of it, blocking Mary Ann like a shield. This is delicious to Mary Ann. "What are you?" she marvels as Sookie rushes out of the house with Bill.

Fortunately for everyone, Jason has equipped himself with a nail gun and a chainsaw (conjuring up fond memories of "Evil Dead" for me). People are having vigorous sex in Merlotte's in ways that made me want to cover my eyes. "Hey, this party's over," Jason shouts, brandishing his chainsaw. Nothing happens. But when he saws the party radio in half the lunatics come to life. When he grabs Arlene and puts the nail gun to her head Terry says, "Stop! Don't hurt my special lady." Demon spawns do have feelings! Jason gives Arlene to him and the villagers retreat outside. Jason locks the door and tells Andy and Sam it's safe to come out. When they do Terry throws a keg through the window and they all come pouring inside again.

Sam realizes that Mary Ann will not rest until she gets him so he tells Andy and Jason to save themselves and gives himself up to the mob.

Meanwhile, Tara is still chained up and speaking in tongues. She calls Sookie ugly names, Lafayette slaps her. Sookie tries to read her mind but sees only darkness. Bill glamours her, which gives Sookie a window of opportunity to cross over the possession into the real Tara, she sees all the orgies and the anger, and manages to pull Tara out of her inner prison. Tara's eyes go back to normal, she hugs her mama. "I know it wasn't you, baby," her mom wails. "I know it wasn't you." (This must be how parents of teenagers regularly feel. I will never have a teenager, just a baby.) Tara tries to go find Eggs, but she is restrained again.

Outside of Merlotte's, Sam is being strapped to the roof of a car when a booming voice yells "silence!" It's Jason, he's shirtless, wearing a welding mask and shooting flares off to great effect. He claims to be God, but the townspeople say God has horns, so Andy helps by holding some sticks up behind Jason's head. Sam takes advantage of the moment, jumps off the car and pleads, "Lord, smite me!" Jason has no idea what that means, and he fumbles a bit trying to figure it out, but then he regains his footing and thunders, "I smite thee, Sam Merlotte. Die!" At that moment Sam shifts into something imperceptible -- a fly maybe -- and disappears entirely, leaving only his jeans and boots behind (boy, he goes through a lot of jeans and boots, and where does he keep his wallet?).

"I'm very pleased with my offering," Jason tells the confused townsfolk as they stumble away, thinking their work is done. After they're gone Sam reappears naked, wrapped in an apron. Andy is baffled.

Back at Bill's mansion, Hoyt's psycho mom is still heaping abuse onto Jessica, who says, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't drain you dry. Lady, you have no idea how little control I have over my actions," before flying at her and biting her with a solid crunch. Hoyt runs to her, yelling no.

Finally we are left with Bill making a visit to the vampire queen of Louisiana's house for help. The house is gorgeous and lush and imbued with an unsettling silence. He approaches the queen; all we see is her naked foot -- it drips blood.

Roll credits.

--- Jessica Gelt 

Photo: Anna Paquin (Sookie), left, Ryan Kwanten (Jason) and Stephen Moyer (Bill). Credit: HBO

Live Chat: 'True Blood' Season 2, Episode 10

I can't believe there are only three episodes left in Season 2. At this point, things in Bon Temps and Dallas are completely out of control. With Godric up in smoke and Steve Newlin on a rampage, will the ultimate war between vampires and humans break out? What's with Mary Ann? What does she want with Sam?

And finally, the question that's on every fan's lips: When will Sookie and Eric get it on? Join me for Sunday's chat so we can find out. You bring the intrigue, I'll pour the gimlets.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse), left, and Allan Hyde (Godric), after an explosion. Credit: HBO

Recap: 'True Blood' Season 2, Episode 9

This week's episode began with a bang (sorry, I had to) as Luke blew himself up inside Godric's lair while the vampires were having a civilized post Newlin-confrontation gathering and Bill was out front with Lorena telling her that he will never love her (how many times does she have to hear that?). Anyway, just before the explosion Lorena cries blood and speeds off in that super-fast cartoon style that vampires are so awesome at. But not before promising that Bill hasn't seen the last of her. What's up, Glenn Close? Boil bunnies much?

Lucky for Bill, Eric covered Sookie with his body during the blast and she's fine, just a bit stunned. Bill chases down a member of the Fellowship of the Sun and takes a bite out of him, stopping short of draining him and telling him to go tell his people that he was shown mercy. While he's busy doing that Eric is busy feigning that he is dying. Although Sookie is psychic she appears to have zero skills when it comes to sussing out a big fat faker. He asks her to suck the silver out of his chest and she reluctantly does so only for Bill to arrive and tell her that she's been tricked. Now that she has swallowed Eric's blood he will be able to sense her emotions and she may start having sexual feelings toward him. Join the club, Sook. 

Later Godric assesses the irreparable damage done to his home and seems deflated. Stan is dead, as are several other vampires and a few humans.

Back in Bon Temps Hoyt sits with Jessica and consoles her about the fact that they have just discovered that her hymen will grow back after every sexual encounter they have. Vampires just heal that way and since she was a virgin when she was turned this unhappy fact is now part of her reality. She's crushed. Hoyt is tender, but secretly how could he be unhappy about his hot, red-headed, perpetual virgin vampire girlfriend? He says she should meet his mama, then he offers to build her a "tricked-out double-wide" and sings her to sleep. Now that's a date!

The following morning at Sookie's house Eggs and Tara sit sadly together, full of bruises from their insane blackout battle. Mary Ann has no sympathy for their sorrow. "I have a little theory about blacking out," she says. "Maybe you rose to a higher state of consciousness." Yes! Finally someone gets it. Blacking out and acting like a hopped up kung-fu fighter is simply dissolving "into the infinite." (I thought that last time I woke up in my neighbor's back yard with no shoes and a Hello Kitty shower cap on.)

Live Chat: 'True Blood' Season 2, Episode 9

Last week's episode ended, or almost did, with a bang. Let's tune in on Sunday to watch the carnage unfold. Who will die? Who will live? Is the great vampire-human war on? You bring the nervous energy and I'll spike the blood-orange soda.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: HBO

Recap: 'True Blood' Season 2, Episode 8

More than halfway through Season 2 it has become clear that Alan Ball and his talented crew of writers and actors are intent on making sure that "True Blood" remains one of the most creative and patently wild shows on television.

This week's episode began with Sookie about to be raped by Fellowship of the Sun trigger man, Gabe, only to be stopped just in time by Godric and Eric. It is quickly broadcast to the church (which also happens to be having a lock-in sleepover) that a vampire is loose in the building and the church goes into lockdown mode.

In a relieving reveal we learn that Sarah has shot Jason with only a paint-ball gun. And boy, is she mad that he never told her his sister was a vampire-lover of the highest order. "You're worse than Judas," she yells.

"What did he do to you?" Jason asks. She shoots him in his man parts and he writhes in pain. Then she tells him that Sookie is in the church basement. Jason rushes to her rescue.

Back at the church, Eric and Sookie engage in flirtatious back and forths before Eric feigns a ridiculous Midwestern accent and tries to get into the church by masquerading as a human. He is quickly revealed and he and Sookie rush into the church to confront Steve Newlin and his congregation of vamp-loathing nut jobs.

Steve is wearing an amazing white suit a la Jim Bakker and announces that the war has begun. Eric steps forward and offers himself in place of Godric and Sookie (whom Newlin has called an evil whore of Satan. I get that all the time too). Eric is quickly placed on the alter and draped with silver chains, which burn his skin and keep him weak. Meanwhile, Jason shows up outside the church and tells the guards that he is a special-ops cadet with the Light of Day institute. He brandishes his gun, but the men instantly recognize it to be a paint-ball gun. They rush him, he overpowers them and sneaks into the church.